ART? Cheap? NO. A priceless therapy.

Drawing and manipulating your own art can be so therapeutic. Drawing is so calming, and then painting your drawing brings out the icing of deliciousness. And when my mind is too tired to play but will not cease from exploration, I manipulate it and channel Van Gogh with photo/art apps on my IPAD later in the evening.

Then I dream of art. ART is not cheap therapy. It is priceless therapy.

AutoPainter HD

You may be moody and blue and then the next page, you can draw a spring bunny.

First page in my new art journal. I'm now on #11

AutoPainter HD

Percolator

Picnik (soon to be extinct) and I blew this up to 36 X 42 and pixels held true at Office Max and framed it in white metal

Or take a neices' dear photograph and make it into artwork for her Dad (my brother). 

It made a nice house-warming gift.

 I don't know what I was feeling when I painted this onery bird and a sweet dog?

and added BRAVE words. I know many people struggling with hard things right now.

WordFoto

IN my own little art world:

things can change in an instant.

Change can be good. Change can expand my boundaries.

I free things from my own limitations.

I go high, low, under or over or all around.

I am an explorer.

I am completely free to fly or free-fall.

It is a good place...always.

go play, you'll see.

Faith questions...

Dante's statue in Florence, Italy

Have you ever had a feeling of foreboding? Like something was coming?
I did. It was like a Spirit or an inner voice preparing me. I knew I wasn't suppose to worry about it, or plan for it, or save up for a rainy day. The Voice just told me it was coming, to be grateful for this good day but be prepared, not scared.
Now is this just too weird to share? But how can we collectively know if others don't have this experience if we never share it?


October, my son had a bleeding ulcer and quit breathing during the procedure to repair it. He's okay now.
November, my husband had a bleeding esophagus and got dangerously close to death through blood loss, and reactions to the anethesia. He's better than okay now.
February, my father had a massive stroke. He is slowly recovering. He will be in rehab for many months but he is making progress.
I have 3 best friends whose husbands have life-threatening diseases and they are struggling through the hardest of times right now. Another very dear friend lost her mother last month.
Many things are happening  but I am still certain that the same Awesome One who prepared me- cares for me. Cares for those I love. Holds me up, comforts me so that I can comfort others.

My faith tells me it was Him that spoke to me.My lack of faith questions how and why, or if it is just human intuition, or that the shoe eventually drops in everyones' life. Or that seasons change. 

Or all of the above?

I know He's big enough take my questions. Handle my insecurity and lack of faith.

But if, IF, what He does for me is as real as it feels, HE deserves so much more from me.

You don't have a soul.

You are a Soul.

You have a body.

    -c.s. Lewis

IPAD - fun playground for the imagination!

This is a fun little digital watercolor that I created on the app "Art Rage" while traveling in the car!
YES! you can paint in the car with no mess. YEA!!!I played for hours on this app and learned so much about blending, shape and texture.
























If I can do this, anyone can. It does take patience at first, but so does a layered painting. But you can learn so much without waste of paper or paint. I miss the sensation of paint and paper but I feel very free to make mistakes because I just push the undo button and try again.

I created this for facebook (and notecards) for the many people who are praying for my Dad.
He had a massive stroke to his right brain on Valentines which left him paralyzed on the left side. But he is slowly regaining strength and only time will tell whether he will return to his former health. I have been sad but not discouraged.

This was a photograph I took in Italy and then added background and text.

 This is the second painting (above) I took to another app named "Perculator". Fun stuff!

streets of Pisa 

Very Klimtish don't you think?

This was my grandson making me laugh (my sister-in-law in the background).
I took this photograph to Grungetastic app. and beat it up a bit. There are so many photo apps to play with it.


Have you found other art or photo apps that you would share in comments?

Heart Art

Sometimes you create a simple piece of art 

because something moves you.

You want to be a part of it.
You admire the person who takes you there because she has such a loving heart. (Thank you Chrissy)

Sometimes you create a simple piece of art 

because someone special says something 

while she shows you her collection of heart photos she saves in her new journal. Something like: "And you know I just love hearts", ... and she does and you feel so lucky that she loves your own heart and gets your crazy passions. (Thank you Susan)

Sometimes you create a piece of art because your daughter and your muse 

needs new ideas

 for Valentines and tee-shirts and she's working her butt off to make her dreams come true while she encourages everyone around her that they can make theirs come true too with a little hard work and synergy. (Thank you Joli)

Sometimes you create a piece of art because

  YOU need to be reminded that LOVE is still the most important thing. 

And you want to be better at loving others.

And only your art can express what your heart is bleeding to say. (Thank you God)

PUSHING IT.

I'm busy learning new things over here.
I'm learning that it's true, you should never throw a painting away.
I'm going back now and painting over anything I didn't like, saving bits I did and pushing further.
If it was already ugly and/or boring- what is there to be afraid of? That you will make it more ugly or boring?
I'm learning that if it is boring to me, it is probably very boring to anyone else.
I'm learning that I'm tired of making boring art and I want to amp it up a bit.
I'm learning that I've got to understand more about contrast, composition, blah, blah blah, but GEEZ, it's so important if I want to make exciting art. I've got to get more technical and analytical. But I'm learning that when I'm painting- LET all that go and paint intuitively, trust my instincts and just let it flow out of me.

I add things.
Take away things.
Write on it.
Darken it
Lighten it.
Sew it.
Doodle it.
Digitally screw with it.
Use every medium I have until I get what I want out of my own creation!
I listen and learn and watch and see.

and i

SHUT THE FEAR UP.

I read somewhere (I wish I could remember who to give credit) but she said the SECRET to the only difference in why she stood out was that she took a project to a great point, the point where everybody would like it, and then she pushed it further asking, "How can I make this MORE unique and BETTER than the things I've already seen." AND she DIDN't stop until she LOVED it.

She JUST PUSHED IT FURTHER.

that's the big freakin secret

I can do that. I might not be drawing or painting to the level I want- BUT BY GOD, (literally) I CAN PUSH what I'm doing FURTHER. save it. Go back. and push it further. Until one day- I say, WOW, I LOVE IT!!!

Her headdress was a flower pin that I put in my copy machine and folded in half. and by george, it looked like feathers.

Be brave. Be very very brave in your art and your life. And don't give up until you get what you want.

EVER.

i'm still convincing myself of all of this....can you tell?

Where does your FANCY come from?

Tell me where is fancy bred, 
Or in the heart or in the head? 
How begot, how nourished? 
 Reply, reply. 
It is engender’d in the eyes, 
With gazing fed; and fancy dies
In the cradle, where it lies.
Let us all ring fancy’s knell;
I’ll begin it – Ding, dong, bell. 

Ding, dong, bell.  Shakespeare "The Merchant of Venice"

Where is fancy bred? I often wonder where inspiration comes from. Of course, I give God the credit for anything created and I believe because we are made in His image that each of us was granted creative powers. It takes connecting to the First Power to enrich your own God-given, powerful, artistic character. But we have to trust and we have to invest. That's just my opinion. 

Where does your fancy come from?

Still Practicing...

Tell me you see a tiny teeny bit of Botticelli influence and I will be be happy. I'm continuing the practice with textures and colors in my journal and having so much fun. Trying to work up the courage and patience to do a large painting. I'm forcing myself to do hands and more of the body. Really, I am. But those pieces are awkward still and don't want to come out of hiding.

I"m loving some new apps (for those who got new IPADs or IPhones for Christmas) called Master Pieces and Art Museum. These are art games that you can play while educating yourself about good art. I'm also hooked on Pinterest - a virtural dream image board that can give you loads of inspiration and ideas.

I'm also trying to clean out the clutter, organize the finances for tax season, and set goals and dreams for the new year.

I see beautiful images from your blogs everyday that feed my artist's soul and spur me on. Have I thanked you lately for being my friend? Because it's no small thing to me. I love our creative molecules bouncing all around, back and forth, like a gigantic game of art basketball.

I hope I'll have more to share soon.

Winter snow brings out the art journal.

Out my front door

It's  a little cold over here in southeastern New Mexico. We've had snow on the ground
for 6 days which is unusual for us.
My Sweet Farmer is almost good as new. Thank you for your kind wishes in the comments.

"Chill Out", mixed media  on watercolor, 16 x 20 matted

I'm enjoying my journal again. Did I mention that I ♥ faces. It doesn't seem to matter whose or what face it is. I think I'm into drawing personalities, emoting feelings from their eyes, the position of their chin, etc. They seem to come alive in my journal and look back at me. In a way, I guess I'm still playing paper dolls, only with paints and pencils. It's still an imaginary world where my mind plays creatively, yet keenly. It's like a great dessert for my brain.

Which face is your fav?

notes from a sermon on Psalm 23

my idea of a Venice carnivalle costume

i loved creating this one with only a pencil, black gesso and blue paint. 

Hey guess what?? "Yellow Goat" sold from the "Gallery" in Roswell.. I will miss him but I'm glad someone liked him enough to take him home.

You just never know....

I know it's a little late and I've since taken it down to make room for Christmas, but in my heart I'm still there. My Sweet Farmer almost died over the Thanksgiving holidays. Without giving too much gory detail or reliving it, he had some veins burst in his esophagus and nearly bled to death before he was air-flighted to Lubbock where he had a terrible reaction to the anethesia, so on and on, and spent 6 days in ICU and two more in a regular room.

HE IS fine now!! But wow, what a Thanksgiving. I can't tell you how many wonderful things happened during that week in spite of the horrific beginning, and since that time that made the whole experience very sacred and God-filled, and me GRATE FULL for my many blessings.

I've been drawing as you can imagine. It really is the most calming therapy in the world.

I'm pretty sure this is what Sweet Farmer's guardian angel looked like!

St. John Resting on the Bosom of Christ by
Master Heinrich of  Constance

And this is where I'm resting...

Flight to Florence made real.

" (I felt)... delirious yet tumultuous... I felt as if I sailed with long John Silver and first gazed on Treasure Island. Here was a place where anything might happen. Here was a place where something would certainly happen... "   Winston Churchill

Ponte Vecchio from the Uffizi Gallery window

Have you ever been to a place that everywhere you turned, everything you saw was out of favorite book or picture book? This was my wardrobe in the Chronicles of Narnia, this was my looking glass in Alice and Wonderland. This was my Treasure Island.

What can I say about Florence?

I saw DAVID, all 18ft of him. one huge block of Carrara marble. He ultimately represented that Florence would slay the giant of the Medici family and Michelangelo turned his back on his first sponsors by creating it. (Great STORY)

But I loved most the unfinished marble pieces of Michelangelo's that showed his way of sculpting- where the person actually moves out of the marble. UNBELievable!

WE had a fantastic, knowledgeable guide that has studied art all his life and he has not lost his energy for it. He talked as fast as he could to tell you details about the art and I totally crushed on him. I could have taken him home and I know Sweet Farmer would have understood. 

I saw the DUOMO. The story of Filippo Brunelleschi and Lorenzo Ghiberti is a fascinating one. Two creative genius' that truly sparked a Renaissance.

outside the Medici offices and Uffizi gallery. absolutely intimidating sculptures
they used outside their official palaces.

I LOVE THE history of the Medici family. I watched every documentary I could get my hands on.
They took the money they made as bankers and sponsored art for the city of Florence. They were the first to promote art that wasn't religious (on its face) but to think outside the box about creativity and new ideas and to push the boundaries of original thought! To heck with what the Pope liked.
WOW. ART BURST FORTH IN THAT PLACE!
But in the end the Medici's became violent and greedy and ultimately were thrown out of Florence. BUT the trail of art they left behind is a sight to behold.

Venus by Botticelli

I stood in FRONT of this piece. It was darker than this but so breathtakingly enchanting. I saw Primavera too!  So he created some long neck girls and let his imagination fly. I saw original Leonardo Di Vinci's! What can I say?

If you love the Renaissance, intrigue, history, and love art with a passion - and you only have one city to go to in your life-time - take Florence.

I wanted to cry because I had to leave. But I just kept remembering how blessed I was to even be there. You may think that sounds silly or over-dramatic. But my passion met it's match in Florence and it truly touched me.
I will go back someday. That's a promise I've made to myself.